Gotham Knights - How I became Batwoman
by naomisnews
Summary: This story follows Vicki Vale, how she goes from humble British reporter, to Batwoman, crime-fighter and part of the Gotham Knights. However, little does she know that, as well as fighting for justice, the dark side of crime can be just as appealing... (Note: There are a LOT of changes to the canon, so please don't hate on me for it!)
1. Chapter 1

Gotham Knights

A jolt from the plane touching ground woke me up from my sleep. I looked out of the window and saw the massive city of Gotham, making me gasp at it. It was so dark, but also mysterious, definitely a change of pace from London. I couldn't wait to start working at the Gotham Gazette. Being able to have an awesome job, while also being able to spend time with my cousin, Helen, is like winning a competition to meet the Queen, the members of Queen, and Helen Mirren, the actress who played the Queen, at the same time.

After going through customs, I walked through the arrivals archway and noticed a young woman jumping up and down, waving a giant sheet of card which bore the words "Vicki Vale: Most Awesome Journalist!". I recognised the woman as my cousin, Helen Masterson, tech designer at WayneTech. It's weird to have an identical cousin, but our mothers were identical twins, and had us on the exact same day, so, yeah, very weird.

"Hey girl, you alright?" She greeted me with her American drawl. She was raised in America and has an American father, while I grew up in the United Kingdom over-seas.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Flight was way too long, and I'm so tired now!" I replied, rubbing my eyes. Helen took my suitcase and carried it for me to her car. We both got inside, and she drove off.

"You don't mind if we quickly go into my work space before going to my apartment? I just need to finish some work and hand it in to Mr Fox."

"Yeah, that's fine. Who's Mr Fox?" As I spoke, I was pinching and slapping myself so that I would stay awake. Although I managed to sleep on the flight, it wasn't until the last hour of the flight, and trans-atlantic flights are super long!

"Lucius Fox. He's the business manager for WayneEnterprises. Basically, he checks my work to see if it's functional, and then helps to put it in production, and whether or not it can be useful to the rest of the world." Helen parked her car in a spot underneath the building, and got out. I got out as well and we made our way up into the WayneTech building.

WayneTech was very technologically advanced; I could barely believe my eyes when we walked through the door. Helen went over to the receptionist at the front door. I kept my distance as I wasn't sure that what my cousin was saying was confidential or not. After a few seconds, she walks back to me, with a card attached to a cord.

"Here, put this visitor badge on. You should be fine now." she said, with a smile. We walked through security, setting nothing off, and went towards her desk. I looked round at the different stations, where men and women were working hard on either designing, creating, testing, even ordering more materials for all of the other things I had mentioned. When we reached Helen's desk, I couldn't believe how messy it all was. Blue bits of paper crumpled up everywhere, broken pencils and pencil shavings across the floor, and there were thousands of other pencils that were too short, and had no rubber in the back of it.

"Sorry about the mess!" she said, walking over to her desk, and shoving the crumpled paper of one side, to reveal a design for a laser.

"Um, am I-"

"Of course you're allowed to look! You haven't started your job yet, so it's ok!" Helen tugged at my arm, and I was pulled forward to take a closer look at it. Let me say, that I had never seen a more intricate design of a laser before. "There will obviously be a few bugs and glitches within it," my cousin explained, "but that's expectant of any work here. You never get anything right first time, but that's just part of life, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes it is." I said. A man walked to Helen's desk, with a stern look on his face.

"Helen, do you have the design of the laser?"

"Yes, Mr Fox. Right here." She handed Mr Fox the design of the laser, which he examined himself. He seemed to have a pleased expression of his face, before noticing me. His eyebrows almost met when he looked at my face.

"And this woman is?"

"Oh, this is my cousin, Vicki. She's just moved from London to Gotham to work at the paper. Arrived just a few hours ago."

"Hello." I greeted him in the politest way I could, even offering my hand for him to shake, but he didn't look that impressed.

"Well, Mr Wayne has also told me that I should take your cousin to meet him. You know how he is about journalists."

"I know, but-" my cousin tried to explain.

"No buts. Come with me, Miss…?"

"Vale. Vicki Vale." I said. I walked out of Helen's workplace, and followed Mr Fox to the lift. We both got inside, Mr Fox got his work card, and swiped it on the side of the buttons. The lift then moved upwards, which was a surprise to me. I didn't want the whole journey to be full of an awkward silence, so I began to speak.

"So, Mr Fox,"

"Lucius, please."

"Ok, um, Lucius, um, err, what is Mr Wayne like?"

"Well, Mr Wayne is a hard-working man. He's a little playful at times, but deeply cares about the workings of WayneEnterprises, making sure that they all work towards his beliefs. Did you know that he stopped a part of the company from chopping down part of the Amazon rainforest before it happened, because that part of the company tried to slip it under his nose?"

"Wow, no I didn't know." I was deeply in awe of Mr Wayne. A humanitarian businessman. There so few! The ting from the lift indicated to both me and Lucius that we had reached the floor. We got out and walked to a ginormous office. On its door, it read "Bruce Wayne: Head of WayneEnterprises." Lucius knocked on the door.

"Come in." a voice called. Lucius opened the door, and beckoned me inside.

"Mr Wayne, this is Miss Vicki Vale, cousin of our head designer, Helen Masterson." Mr Wayne was sitting in a big chair, facing the window. After my introduction, he spun round his chair and stood up. To this day, I still remember the emotions I felt when I first laid eyes on him for the first time: surprise, delight, with a hint of admiration and maybe a bit of like. As in, like like.


	2. Chapter 2

Gotham Knights – Chapter Two

Mr Wayne was very tall, and well-built, but whenever I look at a person, I usually take note of their face. Well-rounded, quite stern, but had a lot of colour to it, and as he was currently smiling, seemed very welcoming and approachable.

"Thanks Lucius, you can go now." he said. Lucius turned, and left the office. Bruce beckoned for me to sit down, which I did. Surprisingly, he sat in the chair next to me, instead of behind the desk.

"So, you're a journalist?" he began.

"Well, what I really want to do is report for the news, but I guess you have to start somewhere!" I smiled, and he returned it. It was a really nice, warm feeling. "What about you? Apart from this amazing company, what do you do?"

"I'm a big name here. When not organising charity events, or living up to the playboy philanthropist name," my smile wavered when he said that, but, in a way, I could tell he was joking. I thought. "I mostly spend time with either the Commissioner, or the District Attorney. Not really much else." He stretched his arm over and caressed my shoulder. His soft hands calmed my nerves from meeting the biggest man in Gotham.

"So not much else, eh? Does that you mean you have time for dates?" What I said was meant to be sarcastic, but he raised his eyebrow, while having a half smile.

"Well, I don't know. Would you like to see?"

"Me? Go out with you? What an honour!"

"I think the honour will be mine." He rose from his chair and went over to his computer. He typed on the keyboard and stared at the screen. "You staying with Helen?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"I'll pick you up, say, 7:30 tonight?"

"Tonight?"

"Yes, if that's alright with you, of course?"

"No, no, of course it's fine. I'll just make sure that Helen didn't have any plans. Thank you." And with that, I left his office. He called out one final thing to me before I went down the lift though; "I'm sure you have something formal to wear in your suitcase."

"No way! No possible way!" Helen was driving at a very fast speed, while in a state of disbelief after I told her what happened. "So many people will be jealous of you, myself included." She was smiling and laughing as she was saying this, but I wondered if it was a cover over the fact that she liked Bruce. No, no it wasn't.

"To be honest, we talked about ourselves for a little bit, and then he asked me out. Not much else."

"Seriously? Wish I could do that with some of the guys from work! Well, I'm sure you packed some awesome formalwear for dates!" I said nothing. "You DID pack formalwear, didn't you?"

"Um, well, I-"

"Vicki! You DO NOT fly across the world without formalwear! How do you expect to look hot with gorgeous men?"

"To be fair, I was more concentrating on my work."

"There could've been someone from work. But we are talking about BRUCE WAYNE! THE main reason I'm in this awful city." She parked her car outside an apartment building, and got my suitcase out.

Let me say now, there may be other fancy apartments/flats in the world, some with bean bags and bubble machines, others with fuzzy sofas and lava lamps. However, Helen's apartment trumps all of them, and then some. Orange and yellow walls, funky lamps, and a seriously cool kitchen, with so much food in the fridge. To top it off, the bedrooms had the most comfortable beds. Helen went over to her Vinyl record player, and put in a record by one of my favourite bands: Genesis.

"'Land of Confusion' is definitely one of my favourite songs." she stated.

"I prefer 'Silver Rainbow' myself." She smiled, looking at the album cover.

"I feel like this song perfectly talks about Gotham. This city is so crazy with crime." She got up, grabbed my arm, and dragged me to her room. She opened her closet, and started picking out dresses. Through all of the fabrics and various stitching, one dress stood out. A long, blue dress, with soft, stretchy material, and a slit up the leg.

"This one." I said, holding it up for Helen to see. Her eyes opened, mouth widening into a smile.

"That is perfect."

After dinner, Bruce offered to drive me home, but I insisted on walking home, thanking him for his time. Before I left, he pulled me close and our lips touched. The feeling that it gave me was amazing. I really wished that I could stay with him, but I was to start work in the morning. The whole dinner was enjoyable too, where we just talked about ourselves, and our interests, while being presented with lavish food. The walk back to the apartment wasn't tough, even in heels, as I remember where things are after being to certain locations once or twice. However, that walk wasn't a normal walk back in the night. As I got about half way, the main street was blocked, so I had to go through an alley, which I really hate going through. Suddenly, men in black beanies, and jumpers descended in front and behind me.

"Hey, lady," one began. "Give up the purse." Now, I may be scared about going through alleys, but when the problem arises, I seem to be a calm bunny.

"Your jewellery will go nicely with it too." another said. I looked at both of them, took off my heels and threw them at two of the men. One got lodged in his forehead, which got me off-guard a little, but it didn't faze me. More were coming towards me, but they didn't know that I had been taking kick-boxing classes at uni, and that I was the top of my class. Kicks and flips put bruises on the men, face and all. Some grabbed onto me, but I kicked them off, and might have given a few concussion. They tried to run away after that, but a figure was blocking the other side of the alley: Batman!

"Oh no!" one shouted.

"It's the Bats!" another screamed. Batman must have been a master of kung fu, and Tai Kwan Do, because he gave those men a harder beating than I did.

When all the men couldn't fight anymore (or walk, temporarily), I turned to the Batman.

"Thank you for what you did." He looked at me, with a stern expression. All he said to me was "You're a good fighter, but stay out of trouble next time." He got a grapple gun out of his belt, and shot right into the air, disappearing into the night.

I got back to the apartment, where Helen was waiting for me expectantly. I told her everything that had happened, including the small chat with Batman.

"Seriously? You're so lucky for him to have talked to you!"

"Yeah, well, I think I'm luckier to be alive, if I'm honest."

"Hey, at least you have something to write about in the paper."

"I'd rather not. He seems like a guy to keep in the shadows. Putting him in the paper seems exploitive."

"Aren't many reporters?"

"Good point." The buzzer from the door sounded, and Helen got up to answer.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hey, it's Bruce. Can you let me up?"

"Sure", and she pressed a button on the system. She also threw her cardigan at me, and ordered me to put it on. Helen then opened the door for Bruce, who rushed to me, I guess to make sure I was ok.

"I came over as soon as I heard about it. Are you alright?" He seemed genuinely worried about me, which was really sweet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I took kickboxing lessons at university. And of course, the Batman came to help, which was kind of him to." Bruce and Helen looked at each other for a quick moment, and then looked back at me again.

"I feel such a fool to have left you there. How about I make it up to you? Come to Wayne Manor for dinner. Alfred is the best when it comes to cooking." I agreed, allowing for Alfred to pick me up at 5, when I finish work. Although the escapades of the night were over, I couldn't help feeling like this wouldn't be the last time I would team up with Batman. And, fortunately for me, it wasn't.


	3. Chapter 3

Gotham Knights – Chapter Three

I managed to wake up the next morning, thanks to my alarm. Bruce stayed over and slept on the sofa, which was really kind of him. Helen had woken up as well, and was in the kitchen making her breakfast.

"Morning!" she greeted me with. "You better?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I looked over at Bruce on the sofa. He looked very adorable, which is not a word I would usually use. "Should I wake him?"

"Wave bacon under his nose, and see what happens!" my cousin joked. I giggled a little bit, but just came about face to face with him. I rubbed his shoulders to try and wake him.

"Bruce? Bruce?" I called. Eventually, his small eyes opened, and I saw how blue they were.

"Oh, morning Vicki." he said. He sat up straight, and stretched himself, as he was taller than the sofa. "Nothing else happened during the night, did it?"

"Well, apart from a weird dream involving Paris, and mariachi bands, and the fact I could hear your cute snoring, no, not really."

"I could hear that snoring as well, but I wouldn't call it cute!" Helen called from the kitchen. For a moment, I was scared that Bruce would fire her for making that comment, but he just laughed, and threw his arm around my shoulder.

"Your cousin makes the weirdest jokes, doesn't she?"

"Sometimes, I guess." He pulled me in for a kiss, which I gave. Although I could hear Helen making gagging noises behind me, I didn't care.

"Now," Bruce said, after we broke apart, "I need to head off to work. I'm helping organise a charity event at the Gotham Zoo to raise money for a bat sanctuary. Alfred will pick you up, as I said. I think he said he was cooking chicken tonight. You know, wrapped in bacon with a cheese sauce inside it."

"Looking forward to it!" We kissed again, and then he left out of the front door. I felt incredibly lucky to be going out with Bruce. Not because he's a millionaire or anything (that's pretty much the last reason!), but because he is a man who is quite famous, yet he is the nicest person I'd ever met. He was kind, and very sensitive, but also strong and courageous.

"Oi! Love-Dove! What time do you need to go to work?" my cousin called from behind me. I turned to look at the clock above the stove. 8:45! I need to be there at 9! I grabbed a piece of toast from Helen, gathered my things together, and was out the door by 8:47. Before realising I didn't know where the Gotham Gazette headquarters were located, so I turned around and knocked on Helen's door.

Luckily, Helen was quite a fast driver, and I got to the reception desk at 8:58.

"Hi, Vicki Vale." I said to the receptionist. She looked on her computer, and directed me to the office of a man named Perry White. I found his office and knocked on his door.

"Come in." I heard, and I walked in. Perry was very strict. If you meet him, do NOT call him chief! One guy walked passed him, calling him chief, and he went ballistic! Oh my gosh, I cannot even describe how scary it was! (And I won't try to here!) However, after that disastrous meeting, he showed me to my desk, and told me to write up everything there. He also sent me out into the street to take pics and find a story. So I did so. Snapping pictures around Gotham's Main Square, and hoping something would come up so that I would have a story on my first day. I managed to snap some pictures of the people putting up posters for the charity event that Bruce was talking about; the bat sanctuary. I asked the people who put up the posters about the event, and got enough information to create a story. Back at office, I started typing up my story. Perry looked over my desk, and seemed to approve it, but then again, I wasn't exactly sure. As I was putting the photos onto the document, my eyes turned to the television that hung above my desk, and saw a news report from the GCNN. I felt a little bitter, as that's where I wanted to be, however, I still took notice of what was being reported: The Joker had escaped from Arkham Asylum. This made me think again about that encounter I had with Batman the night before. Something, I don't know what, made everything seem like he was familiar to me. It was strange-it was if the man behind the cape and cowl was someone I knew, and was very close to. Something else also occurred to me; how did Bruce know about the attack in the ally? Helen didn't call him, and neither did I. These thoughts going around in my head made it difficult to write; I hope this wouldn't cause my job to be in jeopardy.

Once 5pm rolled around, a call came for me that a man named Alfred Pennyworth was downstairs, waiting for me to give me a lift to Wayne Manor. Luckily, I managed to complete about half of my article, so I saved my work on a memory stick, and left my desk. An old man, who I guessed was Alfred (and I was correct), opened the door for me, to which I got in, and he drove me to Wayne Manor. As he drove me, we started a conversation.

"So, Miss Vale, how did you and Master Wayne meet?"

"Well, I was with my cousin, Helen, and he just called me to meet him. Was quite out of the blue, if you ask me."

"Oh, well, Master Bruce does usually have an element of surprise. It's one of the things many reporters write about in the papers. I assume that you've seen the posters for the charity event?"

"Yes I have. I'm actually writing a story about it at work. I've almost finished it, so I'll probably work on it when I get back to the flat."

"Ah, so you're one of the reporters?"

"Well, I want to be a newscaster, you know, someone in the field, working for GCNN, but I guess you have to start somewhere."

"Very true, Miss Vale, very true." After that, we had left the city centre, and were driving up a hill, and through tall gates, which led to the magnificent house, known as Wayne Manor. Alfred got out of the driver's seat, and opened my door, which was in front of the giant door. And in the doorway, there was Bruce. I ran to him, and wrapped my arms around him. He seemed to be very surprised by that, but gave me a warm hug back, which was very soothing. He kept one of his arms around me, and led me inside the house.

"Was work alright?"

"Yes, fine thank you. Everything prepared for the charity event?"

"Almost there. We just need a few more things to prepare it, but we should nearly be ready." He guided me into the house, and led me to the drawing room-style room. I sat down on an armchair, and Alfred served me tea.

"So, Vicki, you like it here in Gotham?" I sipped my tea, unsure why he sounded nervous.

"It's alright, I guess, I mean, it's no Garden of Eden, but it's ok." He looked down at his coffee, and smiled. He didn't say anything though. I put my tea down on the coffee table, and shifted my body to face him.

"What's the matter? C'mon, tell me." He puts his coffee down and sighs.

"I'm just…nervous."

"Nervous? About what? You're Bruce Wayne, when are you ever nervous?"

"When I've met someone like you." I was gobsmacked at this.

"Um, I, err, um, we've only, um, known each other for, err, a few days, or so."

"Still, you're nothing like I've ever seen or known before. It's refreshing." He got up, fiddled with the cuff of his shirt, and turned to me.

"Excuse me for one second." He then left the room, leaving me with my tea, the fireplace glowing, and my thoughts. Since when are guys like this? They see someone, go out with them, and then they call you special? After three days? Maybe it's just America liking everything fast; I don't know. I looked up, and noticed a grandfather clock at the other end of the room. For some reason, it took my intrigue, so I put my tea down, and went to it. Studying the face, I noticed that the cover for it wasn't properly closed. I could've just shut the cover, but for some reason, I really wanted to test something out. I looked at my watch, and decided to test my timezones, and make sure it was ok to be able to call my parents. As my watch said 5:48, I imputed the time I thought it would be in the UK – 5 hours ahead. Once I put the minute hand to the 48th minute, suddenly, the wall next to it backed up, moved sideways, and revealed steps down to some sort of basement area. Curiosity leading me, I took my first step down, and never looked back.

I couldn't see much as I went down the steps, making sure that I didn't slip. I was then greeted by a smell. A smell of damp and wet; it also felt very cold. Suddenly, many lights came on, and I realised that we were in a cave. And not just any cave, giving that there was a very similar symbols around the whole cave. It had a black bat over a yellow background.

"Wha-what does this all mean?" I asked. I was extremely confused. Why was this underneath Bruce's house? Was he working with Batman, his friend, associate, brother, or… A clocked figure was shown in the shadows, catching me by surprise.

"How did you get down here?" he said, gruffly.

"I just input a time in the clock-why are you down here? What's your agenda with Bruce Wayne? Who even are you?!" We stared at each other for a few seconds, probably because that's how long it took me to get it.

"Oh my gosh!" I finally got it. "You helped me in the alley the other day, you knew my skills, you knew about everything because you're Bruce!"

"Yes, you are correct. Hello Vicki." I smiled, reached up, and took off his cowl, seeing his face glow as he softly smiled at me. It was a little weird though to see him with big black circles around his eyes. He almost looked like a raccoon. Almost...

"Ah! So she finally gets it!" A familiar voice came from the computer bay. Someone was sitting in a big black chair, which swivelled round to reveal why the voice was so familiar.

"Helen! What are you doing down here?"

"I'm here to wait for you!" She giggled, but I was not impressed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Err, for obvious reasons! I can't seriously go around saying "I'm the Batgirl", now can I?" I blinked at her for a second. I wasn't sure if what they were saying was true. Bruce saw my face, and guided me to a chair for me to sit in.

"Look," he started, "you remember that time that you inputted into the clock to get in here?"

"Yeah, it was 10:48, I think."

"That was the time that my parents were gunned down when I was young. Since then, I wanted to take justice upon this poor city, and save it from the crumbling mess that it was put in because my parents weren't there to care. I trained for many years in martial arts and science to prepare myself for what I was to return to. And since I've been back, as Batman, the city has benefited from growth in population and wealth throughout the masses as I, well, we've managed to help Gotham."

"You see," Helen continued, "before I came here, Gotham was pretty much a wasteland with no hope of redemption, a breeding ground for gangs and criminals. Virtually no justice system whatsoever! Then, after years of training, Bruce took on the persona of Batman, and made the city stable again. At least, for now!" I stared at my cousin, then at Bruce. I took a step backwards, so that I could look around the place. I found some cases which contained some costumes inside. 4 were in there, I saw one that I recognised immediately-Bruce's of course. Luckily, it wasn't rubber!

"How come there are four? Do we have an extra member?" I asked.

"That would be Dick." Helen said, smiling. The cave doors swung open, and someone covered head to toe in leather, with a black helmet, on a motorcycle, sped through the doors, and conveniently stopped right in front of me and Helen. They took their helmet off, to reveal a young man, who looked very cocky.

"Perfect timing!" said Bruce, unamused.

"Hey, would it make it any better if I managed to get takeaway on the way here?" Dick held up a brown bag, which we later discovered to be filled with Chinese food.

"Perhaps." my cousin answered, before skipping up to Dick, taking the bag, and kissing him on the cheek. My confusion still was shown on my face, which Dick saw.

"Who's this girl?" Helen raised an eyebrow at him.

"She is the cousin I was telling you about." Dick looked like he had said something incredibly offensive.

"It's ok, I wouldn't have recognised myself!"

"Dick, this is important. You can't just waste time when your stomach calls for it." Bruce did not seem happy.

"It wasn't just my stomach! Had to think about my lady's as well!" Dick wrapped his arm around Helen's waist. She just looked up at him with that same quizzical look.

"If that is so, then why is there only a serving for one?"

"Because we have to be careful of what we put into our bodies! Plus, I didn't have enough cash, and they don't take credit."

Whilst everyone seemed to be having a lot of banter, as much as I wanted to enjoy myself with them, my mind was still racing, and trying to take everything in. My boyfriend is Batman, and my cousin is an associate of his?

"Wait!" I exclaimed. Everyone turned to stare at me, some confused, whilst others concerned.

"Vick, what's wrong?" my cousin asked.

"Is my whole reason for being here is just as an extra pair of arms? Back-up for your little cosplay group?"

"Vicki, it's not like that at all!" Bruce seemed very stern with me, the first I'd seen of him.

"So, when I got the call saying that I could work here, that was all a part of a ruse? Just to get me here? Do you even like me, Bruce?" Helen looked shocked, then solemn. Dick still looked confused, whilst Bruce was speechless.

"Vicki, you need to listen." But I didn't want to hear anymore. I bolted back up the staircase, and ran out of the mansion, not daring to look back. I couldn't take it. This is not what I signed up for. Running back to the flat, and falling onto my bed in tears, the only thing I could feel was hurt.


End file.
